


Five Years, Twelve Weeks, Four Days and Fifty-Seven Minutes

by EozMoon



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:15:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28194552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EozMoon/pseuds/EozMoon
Summary: After being trapped in the store cupboard by a rogue sprig of enchanted mistletoe, tensions rise between Hermione and Severus. How long will it take for Severus to break?
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Comments: 9
Kudos: 131
Collections: Secret Circe Yule Fic Exchange





	Five Years, Twelve Weeks, Four Days and Fifty-Seven Minutes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TriDogMom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TriDogMom/gifts).



> Merry Christmas to the brilliant Tridogmom. I hope you like your Christmas present!
> 
> Also the usual notes, I don't own etc. Also this is un-betaed apart from much help from Grammarly, so any mistakes are my own! Enjoy!

“Merlin’s fucking beard I’m going to hex those bloody twins!”

Severus looked up from his cauldron with a grimace at his assistant's indignant shriek. He dreaded to think what the twins had done to cause Hermione Granger to swear. He groaned in frustration and walked towards the supply cupboard to survey the potential damage the two menaces had done to his stores.

“Be sure to make a note of any damages Miss Granger,” he called out as he walked towards the storeroom. “This time I’m sending a bill directly to Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes.” His dragon hide boots clicked on the hard stone floor as he reached the doorway.

“No, don’t come in!” Came Hermione’s frantic protest.

“Miss Granger I have treated you with all sorts of magical melardies in your youth, do cease with any superficial concerns of vanity as I truly do not care about what deformity they have caused you.” Severus drawled impatiently as he stepped over the threshold, before stopping as he felt the familiar sensation of magic flutter over him. Looking up he noticed a sprig of the twins' infamous enchanted mistletoe.

“Fuck!” He exclaimed in frustration.

“Well I did try to warn you,” stated Hermione with an equally frustrated tone, as she crossed her arms under her chest. Severus tried not to stare at how the action enhanced her décolletage. Turning his attention back to the offending plant, he glared at it angrily before pulling out his want and casting a swift Diffindo to no avail. He frowned, previously that had worked.

Hermione sighed from where she now stood next to him. “That won’t work, they learned from the last time you did that.”

Severus sniffed. “Indeed.” He tapped a long finger against his lips as he thought through his vast arsenal of spells to figure out the best-suited hex for the cursed plant.

“I could just send a Patronus for help. Molly and Ginny are around, one of them could get the twins to let us out.” Hermione offered.

Severus pinched his brow. “Unfortunately not. I’ve cast specific Anti-Weasley wards over the lab.”

Hermione stared at him in horror. “Why would you do that?” She squeaked.

Severus raised an eyebrow pointedly as he gestured upwards to the mistletoe overhead. Hermione sighed in response. “Point taken. But that’s just the twins. You didn’t need to ward out everyone else!”

“You forget Miss Granger, I had the misfortune to teach every one of those ginger-haired dunderheads. I do not trust a single one of them around our brewing stations.” He countered defensively.

Hermione rolled her eyes in irritation. She slumped down against the wall to sit on the hard floor. He diverted his gaze as he avoided looking at the bare carves showing out from the knee-length green robes she was wearing. He loved her in green. Call him stereotypical but seeing the object of his desires in Slytherin green did things to him.

She huffed. “Really Severus, even Percy?”

“ _Especially_ Percy. Pompous twit lectured me on the regulatory thickness of cauldron bottoms for over two hours last month. Of course, he is barred from entering my rooms.” Severus was starting to develop a headache from just the memory of it.

Hermione giggled a soft feminine sound that made his heart skip. “That’s understandable.” She agreed. “However it doesn’t answer how we’re going to get out of here.”

They both fell silent, nervously staring at each other and Severus tried not to think of the obvious unspoken answer to their predicament. He wasn’t foolish enough to think for one moment that kissing her was even an option.

“We’ll think of something,” he grumbled as he sent a particularly vicious blasting hex at the mistletoe. It was unsuccessful.

He looked down at Hermione and contemplated joining her, unsure whether to start making himself comfortable or if he should avoid being in such close quarters with her. Being near her was hard, there were so many times when he was tempted to close the strict distance between them just to touch her cheek or brush a curl from her face. Innocent gestures of affection he couldn’t afford to show, lest she knew of his hidden feelings.

After a moment's hesitation, he sank down to join Hermione on the floor, quickly charming the ground underneath them both with a cushioning charm before making himself comfortable as he could. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the shelves, weary of the vials of ingredients clicking precariously behind him. It had been exactly five years, twelve weeks, four days, and one hour since she had walked into his potion lab at Grimmauld Place, bringing herself back into his life once more. And it had been exactly five years, twelve Weeks, four days, and fifty-seven minutes since he had fallen irrevocably in love with her.

She had entered his lab, took one look at his work station and promptly suggested if he should use an ebony stirring rod as her research had shown using stirring rods made from the same wood as the potioner’s wand imbued more of their magic into the brew, therefore allowing for a more potent potion. Severus had been stunned speechless by her ingenuity, and to his surprise, he had fallen hard and fast for his former student. Something he had had never thought he would find himself doing with someone he had once titled an insufferable know it all. From that moment his heart was done for, lost to her brilliant mind. What he had previously found irritating now drew him to her like a moth to a flame. They would spend hours talking, wiling away the time discussing all manner of topics. Her presence had brought a light to his dark life and he had fallen for her mind, body, and soul.

Of course, it hadn’t helped that Hermione had grown into a beautiful woman, filling out her casual robes with delectable curves that his hands itched to caress. There were far too many times when she would bend over her workstation, providing him a tantalizing glimpse of her shapely bum through the fitted material of her skirts, and leaving him no option but to occlude until his arousal was no longer evident.

“Harry will be home in a few hours, I suppose we could wait until then,” Hermione spoke brightly, pulling him away from his thoughts.

Severus cracked open an eye. “The wards are also set to keep out Potter.” He drawled bored tone.

Hermione glared at him. “Are you kidding me, you warded Harry out too?”

He shrugged dismissively, trying to avoid her eye. Hermione crossed her legs and huffed again in annoyance. “What about Kreacher?” She offered hopefully.

Severus shook his head and stretched out his long legs in front of them. “Also warded out.”

“Merlin’s saggy balls Severus, must you ward everyone from the lab?” Hermione cried out in frustration. “Ugh, you anti-social bastard!” She swatted him sharply across his hard chest.

Severus flinched at the sharp slap of her hand catching him by surprise. “Obviously not, you’re still able to enter.” He defended himself.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Don’t act like you wouldn’t ward me out too if you didn’t need me.”

“Miss Granger…” He started to lecture.

“Hermione,” Hermione interrupted him. “It’s Hermione, Severus. I think after over five years of working with you I’ve earned the right to be called by my first name.”

He swallowed nervously, hesitating before he spoke. Calling her was too familiar, too affectionate, breaking through the formal buffer he used so desperately to keep her at a distance. Miss Granger was the same name he used when she was his student. Hermione was what he called her in his most intimate fantasies. The ones where she slept curled up in his loving embrace, only to wake him by taking him inside…

He pulled himself away from his wandering thoughts, shifting his legs to hide any evidence of his aroused state from the subject of his affections.

“H.. Hermione,” he started again, stumbling over the name that sounded so foreign on his tongue. But his earlier chastising words were lost. She had settled comfortably on his shoulder now and he couldn't bear the thought of moving her. He sighed and let himself place a hand on her knee in comfort. The boldest gesture he could allow himself to do.

“You know, we could just kiss.” Came Hermione’s sudden suggestion, breaking the silence with the most cataclysmic words she could have said. Severus froze.

“E… ex.. excuse me?” He asked hoarsely, stumbling over his words in his shock.

Hermione turned her head to look at him. “Me and you, if we just kiss we could break the enchantment and be free in moments.”

“Absolutely not.” Severus spat horrified at the suggestion. There was no way on this earth he was kissing her. One touch of her lips on his and he would lose all control of the strict vigil of the stoic composer he kept in place. Just a brief moment and his secret feelings would be exposed. He could not kiss her.

Hermione flinched at his harsh tone, the words seeming to inflict pain. He watched guiltily as she straightened her posture and moved away from him. She drew up her legs and wrapped her arms around her body defensively. He couldn't help but morn the warmth on her touch and his twinge of guilt spread through his chest as her smile dropped.

“Point taken, Severus,” Hermione responded with a bitter tone. Her voice began to tremble and Severus noticed her eyes start to well up with tears. “Merlin, I’m so foolish,” she spoke almost to herself. “I thought that maybe you might have begun to see me as more than just a child. But clearly not if the thought of simply kissing me is so repulsive to you. So much so you would rather be stuck in a cupboard for goodness knows how long than kiss me for one moment.”

She sniffed as a tear trickled down her cheek and she swiped it away crossly with the palm of her hand. Severus clenched his jaw tightly as the guilt crashed over him in waves. If only she knew the truth, how all he wanted to do was kiss her. How she was the reason he woke up every morning and lived through each day just to see her smile. How she was what made him glad to have survived Nagini’s bite. She was everything to him and she would never know.

“Hermione it’s not like that,” he said softly.

“Then what is it like? Because from where I stand it looks exactly like that!” She snapped in response.

“You wouldn’t understand…” he tried to explain but was interrupted by the increasingly irate witch.

“Then make me understand!” Hermione cried, her tone rising in her agitation.

Severus rubbed his temples. “Gods woman, must you be so incessant?” He snapped crossly, his chest tight as his secrets threaten to spill.

“Must you be so obtuse? You’re not a spy anymore Severus, there is no need to speak cryptic riddles for the rest of your life.” Hermione attacked.

Severus’s patience broke and his confession spilled out so quickly he could barely believe the words himself. “Damn it, Hermione, the only reason I won’t kiss you is not that I don’t want to, but because if I ever were to get such a chance I don't think I would ever be able to stop!”

For a moment they sat in silence staring at each other, both equally stupefied by his words. Finally, Hermione moved cautiously towards him, leaning in to kiss him. With a pained sigh, Severus placed his hand between their faces, halting the kiss.

Hermione stared at him, her face contorted in confusion and pain. “I thought…never mind clearly I was wrong.” She swiped at her eyes again with her hand and stood up. Severus watched her forlornly as she walked over to the far wall, putting as much distance as she could between them. “I apologise, I shouldn't have made any assumptions. After all, I know how you feel about Lily.”

The last part was barely a whisper as her heartbreak seemed to overcome her. Severus finally moved to comfort her, taking hold of her hands as she looked up at him confused.

“Hermione I …” He swallowed, scrambling to his feet and following her to the other side of the cupboard. He was stuck for words, his tongue thick from the emotions he had no idea how to express. Noticing a tear running down her face, he reached to cup her cheek and brushed it away tenderly with his thumb. “I…” He began again, completely at a loss at how to express the extent of his feelings for her. He loved her with every part of his being, in a way that mere words could never hope to convey. He paused for a moment before nervously flicking his wand and cast the charm he had avoided for far too long.

“Expecto Patronum,” he whispered pointedly, looking into Hermione’s warm brown eyes. He watched as her face lit up with realisation as his Patronus formed. No longer the doe that had stayed with him through his worst years, but an otter that dived playful around the room encompassing the couple in it’s glow.

“Now you know.” He said. “My heart no longer belongs to Lily Potter, but to another witch that has brought so much joy to my life again.”

Hermione stared at him, her eyes wide in wonder, searching for an answer. “You love me?” She asked hesitantly.

Severus sighed, his momentary surge of Gryffindor bravery rapidly fading away. “Yes, I do. Very much so, Hermione.” He confessed with a defeatist tone, knowing he was setting himself up for rejection once again. “I understand you don't feel the same and …”

Suddenly he was cut off by the feel of Hermione’s lips crashing against his. His shock prevented him from returning her passionate embrace, and he moved away from her.

“Hermione, please don't feel obliged to show me any displays of pity.” He stated pleadingly.

Hermione looked at him and gnawed her lip. Her brow was furrowed with an expression he couldn't quite place. “You think I’m kissing you out of pity?” She said slowly, seeming confused.

“Why else would anyone kiss the ‘greasy bat of the dungeons’?” He retorted bitterly, turning his head away to hide the emotions too clearly visible on his face. Too many people in his life had made it clear to him that there was no other reason someone like Hermione would ever look his way. Warm palms encompassed his face as Hermione reached out and pulled him closer to face her.

“Severus, did you ever stop to think that maybe I would _actually_ want to kiss you?” She asked tenderly.

“Why _would_ you?” He snorted derisively. 

Hermione laughed, a light trill of a sound that would be music to his ears in any other circumstance. “Severus, for someone so brilliant, you can be rather oblivious sometimes.” 

He glared at her, feeling slightly put out by her remark. After all, he _had_ been a spy for over half his life, he was far from oblivious. 

“I love you too.” She confessed. His breath caught in his chest and time seemed to stop. 

“What?” He gasped, barely louder than a whisper, not daring to let himself believe the words she had said. 

“I love you, Severus.” She repeated, this time with more conviction as she smiled lovingly at him. He covered one of the hands still against his cheeks and turned his head to press a kiss on the soft palm. 

“I never thought I would ever hear you say those words.” He breathed. “Never dared hope, someone, as damaged as myself, would earn your love.”

“You are not damaged, Severus,” Hermione stated firmly. “And you are no less deserving of my love than any other man.” 

A flood of emotion filled him and, unable to hold back anymore, he pressed her against the hard wall and crashed his lips to hers. Hermione returned the kiss with renewed enthusiasm, wrapping her arms around his neck. His head was spinning as he lost himself to the sensation of her lips against his, her tongue running over his lips as she coaxed his mouth open. Deepening the kiss with a moan, he pulled wrapped her legs around his waist. Running his hands through her riotous hair, he savoured the feel of her curls around his fingers. Merlin, he had fantasised about this too many times to count. He groaned as she pressed herself against him. Grasping her thighs hard enough to bruise, he inched his hands further up the cream expanse of leg wrapped around his waist. He teased the skin along her collar bone, placing soft nibbling kisses across her neck that earned a gasp of pleasure from the witch on his lap. Groaning at the noise, he pressed her hard against him, showing her the effect she was having on him. Her hands were carding through his hair, seeming to not care about the greasy residue a day's worth of potion making had left as she tugged on the locks. His hands shifted higher on their own accord, only stopping when he felt the edge of her lacy knickers at his fingertips.

“I need to stop now else I will end up taking you against this wall” he panted against her lips as he paused their kisses.

“Oh Salazar I hope you do,” Hermione gasped in response. Severus felt a shiver of desire run through him at the intense look she gave him.

“You know,” he whispered huskily against her ear, “I have this … fantasy about fucking you against the storeroom wall.”

Hermione’s breath caught. “Really?” she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper as his hands crept up her torso, inching towards the buttons of her robes.

“Salazar yes,” he groaned in between trailing open-mouthed kisses along her neck. “There were many nights spent imagining how your thighs would feel around me as I fucked you hard and slow against this wall.”

Hermione bit her lip as she stifled a moan.

“Oh no Miss Granger,” Severus teased, running his finger over her full lip. “That’s my job now.”

He captured her lips with his own, teasing her with soft nibbles. He savoured each moan she let out against his mouth as he slowly worked the buttons of her robs open, popping each open loose at a painfully slow pace.

“Is that something you still want to act out?” Hermione asked, a coy smile blooming across her face as she trailed her hands over his chest down towards the prominent erection between her thighs.

Severus swallowed audibly, a rush of arousal sparking through his veins as he looked at her hooded eyes, pupils blown with desire. “Very much so.”

“Perhaps we should try it out now,” Hermione said suggestively.

Severus stilled momentarily, almost disbelieving her words. The feeling of Hermione toying with the placard of his dress trousers brought him back to the present and he crashed his lips desperately to hers. Popping open the last button of her robes, he commented, “In my fantasies I always dreamed of drawing this out, making it last until the anticipation is too much.”

His fingers slipped inside the lace of her bra, drawing soft circles over her peaked nipple and he felt her thighs tremble in longing. She pressed her core harder against his erection and he hissed in pleasure. “I wanted to tease you for hours, watching you tremble with longing as you begged me for release.”

“Please, Severus.” Hermione whimpered against his lips, as he coaxed hers open with his tongue. Those two words, that had once haunted his nightmares, now were like a prayer to his condemned soul. “Please don’t tease me, I’ve wanted this for too long.”

Merlin so had he. For far too long he had dreamt of this moment and he couldn’t hold back anymore.

“As you wish,” he smirked wickedly against her, “just this once though.”

With a flourish he hastily tugged her robe over her head, freeing her from the confines that hid her body from him. His breath hitched as he drank in the sight of her dressed only in black lacy knickers and bra. A small blush bloomed over her cheeks as she looked down, seeming unsure of herself. Taking her chin in his fingers he brought her face to look back up at his.

“You are exquisite,” he told her earnestly before she could comment. His lips trailed down her neck, and he pressed open-mouthed kisses along her pulse, earning a gasp of please from Hermione.

“I could get lost within the depths of your eyes, but I would find myself again in the pleasure of your body.” He murmured breathlessly against her neck.

He continued his ministrations down her chest, only pausing momentarily to unclasp her bra and remove it from her body. Cupping a breast in his hand, he lowered his mouth to run his tongue experimentally over a pebbled nipple, earning a gasp of pleasure from Hermione. Grinning smugly to himself, he lavished the peaked tip with his tongue as he rolled the other between the fingers of his free hand. Pressing her harder into the wall, Severus moved his hand down towards the apex of her thighs and reveled in the moan Hermione released as his fingers found her core, softly teasing her through the lace of her knickers.

“Fuck you’re soaking,” He growled. Impatiently he wandessly vanished her knickers so he could press his fingers against her clit.

“Oh, Merlin, Severus,” Hermione gasped as he drew lazy circles around her clit, sliding through her soaked folds as he teased her. Hermione carded her hands through his hair, tugging him upwards towards her. She pressed a searing kiss against his lips. Her hands moved to his chest, fiddling with the vast amount of buttons lining his frock coat.

“Ugh, too many buttons,” Hermione whined. Severus chuckled as she pulled out her wand, and with a quick swish, he was topless. “Much better,” Hermione smiled satisfactorily, tossing her wand aside.

Severus had no time to feel self-conscious of his form as Hermione ducked her head to press tender kisses down his neck and over his pectorals. He let out a hiss as she dragged her nails over a nipple, sending a thrum of arousal straight to his already achingly hard cock. With a coy smile, she trailed her fingers teasingly down over his stomach muscles towards the fastening of his trousers. Severus couldn’t stop himself from eagerly reaching down to help her unfasten his trousers and releasing his erection. The head of his cock was pressed temptingly close to her drenched opening and he stifled a moan as he tried to keep his composer.

“Don’t make me wait any longer,” Hermione begged, looking up at him. Grabbing her jaw, he brought her up into a hungry kiss before sinking into her. Hermione gasped in pleasure against his mouth and he held his breath to keep from spilling himself within her at that moment. Dropping his hands down, he grasped her thighs to anchor her closer to him as he began to move his hips in deep, slow thrusts. Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck as he rested his forehead against hers. He gazed deep into her beautifully expressive brown eyes.

“I love you,” he whispered, his eyes never leaving hers.

“I love you too,” she replied, her voice hitching slightly as his cock brushed deep inside her, as he sped up his thrusts, fucking her harder against the wall.

“Fuck,” Severus groaned between gritted teeth, his fingers gripping tighter into the flesh of her hips, “you feel incredible wrapped around my cock Witch. I’m not going to last much longer.”

“Oh fuck Severus, right there,” Hermione moaned breathlessly, “Don’t stop.”

“I’m getting close,” he murmured hotly against her neck.

“You’ll have to pull out, I’m not on the potion”

A vision of Hermione swelled with his child flashed through his mind and he looked into her eyes, a shudder of arousal flushed through him at the thought. Hermione caught his gaze and smiled wickedly. “Or maybe not?” She offered with tempting a lick of her tongue over the shell of his ear.

Severus moaned at her words, knowing he wouldn’t be able to stop coming inside her now if he tried. Reaching his hand down between them, he slid an expert finger over her clit, teasing her with slow circles as he deepened his thrusts.

“Salazar, my beautiful temptress, I’m not letting you go until you’re full of my seed.” He groaned against her lips. He could feel her legs quaking around him, and her moans increased in tempo.

“Come for me, Hermione.” He commanded, kissing her greedily. Hermione gasped in pleasure as her orgasm crashed over her, her walls fluttering around him pulling him over the edge with her.

“Fuck!” He moaned loudly, pounding his hips into her as he came hard inside her.

They stood against the wall as they caught their breath, their foreheads touching as they looked into each other's eyes. His heart swelled as she smiled lovingly at him before pressing her lips to his in lazy kisses.

“How long have you felt this way?” Hermione asked finally.

Severus paused before replying, “five years, twelve Weeks, four days and fifty-seven minutes, give or take a minute.”

Hermione giggled softly. “This whole time?”

He nodded, his lips twitching upwards in a smirk. “And you?”

Hermione smiled. “five years, twelve Weeks, four days, and fifty-seven minutes… give or take a minute.” She echoed jovially.

Severus laughed for the first time in years. The sound of it seemed foreign to his ears and he didn’t think he had ever felt this happy.

“I think,” he said between laughter, “we have some missed time to make up for.”

"Hmm," Hermione agreed as she pulled him close for another kiss, "I think we do."


End file.
